Ordering Seeds

As with the natural ebb and flow of a gardener's life, so goes the annual seed ordering of late January/Early February.

I saw this today from GrowVeg on their FB page:

And my heart. Skips. A Beat.

If you look super closely, you can see that this person is using myriad and sundry plastic containers - Plastic stacking crates, huge bottles, cans, and burlap sacks to grow all sorts of things.

I am SO jazzed about this photo.

As you maybe know, I am short changed this year (and for the foreseeable future) on space I can actually dig out of the turf so most of my endeavors will have to be in containers. I have two raised beds currently (below - framed by the omnipresent IVY)  and I've dug out a huge section of another mid-yard bed.

This is all gone now and is rimmed with edging and filled in with cow poop, chicken poop, worm poop and shredded paper. Yeah, that's me flicking off the ivy. How did you know?

I think the one main hurdle for using re-purposed containers for gardening is trying to make them look good and not like a bunch of junk thrown in the backyard. I like how the gardener above made use of vertical space by building tables and layering plants up the table.

I can see how using crates would work exceptionally well - lined with burlap or cardboard and filled in with dirt. I can dig that.

So my mind is whirling today with ideas. This weekend I'm putting up the seed starting station in preparation for SEEDS!

I ordered:

Felicity Jalapeno Peppers

Milder and sweeter than traditional ones. Good for pickling, eating raw or adding to salads. I love pickled jalapenos but the usual version is sometimes too hot for me. This will be a new variety for me to try but is tested for my area, so it should be okay. I will start indoors soon and then move out into a high tunnel.

Heinz Tomato (paste/canning) Open Pollinated

Good for canning, low in juice, high in pulp. Easy to grow, hardy for my area and a prolific producer. Winner!

I'm going to stagger production on these to take me through the summer. 

Jepeto Banana Pepper

A good banana pepper - mild and easy to grow. Good producer. Short season. Good for eating raw, pickling, or putting on sandwiches or salads. I LOVE these. I didn't grow nearly enough last year.

Waltham Butternut Squash

I was turned on to this squash by Northwest Edible Life. Good producer, yummy, reliable and easy to grow. I love butternut squash and it keeps so long I had to grow some this year instead of pumpkins or zucchini. I can practically get zucchini for free when I work the farmer's markets, so there is no reason to take up real estate with the plants.



Beans and peas I have saved from last year. Salad greens and mesclun I have tucked away already. Herbs and edible flowers are either stored from last year or I buy the seed when it gets a bit warmer. The rest of plant life that I like to eat I will have to score from other growers this year and buy in bulk when in season to process for storage. Mostly berries and peaches.

But potatoes. I will have to snag those from the feed store when they come in. That's always the hardest because they have these lovely baskets filled to overflowing with 15 different varieties of potatoes - all tested for our climate and looking scrumptious....It's good pain. I look forward to the task!

What are you ordering? Have you saved any seed from last year? Are you like me in that you have limited space to grow?